Minister for Child Protection

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen) (15:38): My question is to the Minister for Child Protection. Has the minister spent more time in her recreation, sport and racing portfolio than her child protection portfolio since the election and, if so, why? With your leave, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr TEAGUE: Documents released under FOI reveal that the minister's diary shows at least 254 hours spent on recreation, sport and racing—diarised time—and, by the same measure, only 230 hours on child protection since the election.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Chaffey!

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD (Reynell—Minister for Child Protection, Minister for Women and the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (15:38): I must say, I find this question absolutely shameful. The reason that I find this question absolutely shameful is that the task ahead in child protection system reform is deeply complex, deeply challenging—

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister has the call.

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: —and it absolutely requires collaboration between a number of people. One of the things that I have said many, many times is that it requires whole of government effort, whole of sector effort, whole of community effort. I have reached out a number of times to the shadow minister to brief him on particular issues and to ask him to be involved in progressing particular issues. Instead of actually coming up with solutions, instead of engaging in constructive debate what he does instead is he—

The SPEAKER: Minister, there is a point of order.

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Chaffey! I will hear from the member for Morialta.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Thank you, sir. Standing order 98. The question was quite straightforward. It didn’t provoke, it was to do with data. The minister’s response is seeking to characterise the shadow minister in a certain way. It is utterly in contravention of standing order 98.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I observe first that the standing orders permit a minister to answer in any way that they see fit except where their answer might breach the standing orders. I will listen carefully. It may be and it has been—

The Hon. K.A. Hildyard interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Minister, if you have a point of order or you wish to address this point of order, you may; however, I will listen carefully. I observe in relation to the point of order that a degree of context is permissible. Minister.

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: Thank you, Mr Speaker—

The SPEAKER: Order! I will hear from the leader of government business before turning to the minister. The Leader of Government Business.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir. I ask that the member for Flinders withdraw and apologise for the remark to the minister saying, ‘Please don’t cry,’ or ‘Stop crying.’ It is an appalling remark, sir, and sexist in my opinion.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Before the member for Flinders addresses the house, I observe that I did not hear the exchange. Member for Flinders.

Mr TELFER: Comment withdrawn, sir.

The SPEAKER: Withdrawn. Minister.

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! We are going to move on. The minister has the call.

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: I will continue with my answer. I think the interjection that we’ve just had speaks to—

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Chaffey!

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: —what the priorities are of those over there. As I said, I would appreciate constructive suggestions from the shadow minister. Instead we get this absolute nonsense filled with untruth about the number of hours that I spend—

The SPEAKER: Order! Minister, there is a point of order which I will turn to from the member for Morialta. Member for Morialta.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Standing order 98(a) says:

In answering a question, a Minister or other Member replies to the substance of the question and may not debate the matter to which the question refers.

It is quite specific, sir. The minister’s characterisation of the shadow minister or, indeed, any other member other than inasmuch as it replies to the substance of the question is in contravention of standing order 98 and should be ruled out of order.

The SPEAKER: Order! Well, that may be—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: I thought better of the shadow minister but I will continue—

The SPEAKER: Order, minister! I am going to address the point of order briefly. That may be, member for Morialta. I also observe that standing order 127 does not permit a minister, or any other member, from digressing from the subject matter of any question under discussion. It may be that that standing order has more force. That standing order was not raised with me, nevertheless, I remind the—

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner: It doesn't apply in question time, sir.

The SPEAKER: Well, perhaps that may be, or impute improper motives to any other member, which does apply in question time. But, in any event, I draw the minister’s attention to the substance of 127, most particularly 127 2., not the standing order raised by the member for Morialta.

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, and I will continue to talk about how shameful it is that this is the contribution to child protection from the shadow minister. As I said, child protection is a deeply challenging—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: —and complex area.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order, sir: the minister has just directly contravened the ruling you just gave her—

The SPEAKER: Order! Minister, please be seated. Member for Morialta, I did not make a ruling; I provided some guidance to the minister.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: She ignored it, sir.

The SPEAKER: It would be my wish—

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Morialta! It is well within my wheelhouse to form a view about these matters.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister has the call. There are three minutes remaining. If opposition members continue to seek to supply the answers, it is going to be difficult for me to hear the answer. Minister.

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: Thank you very much, Mr Speaker; as I said, I am very keen to answer this question. My answer speaks to a comparison between myself as minister, who has been utterly committed to the wellbeing of children my entire life, and many people in this house know my passion for child protection areas and domestic and family violence prevention areas as well. What I say for those opposite with this question, and the outrageous slurs that are being made, is that that is their contribution, rather than absolutely working to make the changes we are seeking to progress to improve children's lives and help to make children safer.

I'm not sure if the shadow minister has turned his mind to child protection before the last few months since becoming shadow minister, but what is really clear now is that he still hasn't turned his mind to the issues in child protection, because the best he can come up with are absolutely outrageous slurs. I am utterly committed to progressing change in the child protection system. He is throwing out numbers about my diary, but what he hasn't contemplated—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: —firstly, is that the domestic violence portfolio is intrinsically linked to the child protection portfolio, but he hasn't added up those hours in his little sums. The second thing I will say is that every single night—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: —every night in my diary there are hours and hours of time set aside for briefings, time that extends well beyond those hours that are put aside in my diary—and I can tell the shadow minister right now that I use all that time working through the issues in child protection. Indeed, I continue well past that time.

These slurs are outrageous. They speak to somebody who doesn't understand the complexities of the child protection system, nor what needs to be improved. The best he can come up with are ridiculous slurs about my commitment. My commitment is known. His commitment is clear—

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Are you raising a point of order?

The Hon. K.A. HILDYARD: —given that this is all he can raise in relation to child protection.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! We got there in the end.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Hammond—

Mr Tarzia: Chuck him out, sir.

The SPEAKER: Member for Hammond, I might very well take your colleague's advice; I might very well. Member for Heysen.